Mayor Darrell Bradley has announced that in the coming weeks the Northern Highway from the Haulover Bridge to the Belcan roundabout will be concreted. More than just being concreted, the highway will be expanded in some areas where the first portion after crossing the Haulover bridge will see it become into a 6-lane highway. Getting closer into the city, it will be reduced to a 4-lane highway.

According to the Mayor, the project will cost in the region of 10 million dollars and will be financed through the raising of a second Municipal Bond. That bond will be repaid through an inbound toll which will collect $1 for traffic that flows into the city. In 6 years, that toll will generate as much as 18 million dollars more than enough to pay off the bond.

The project to concrete the highway is expected to commence in the next few weeks as there is already interest by at least 5 financiers who are willing to purchase the bond. The work is expected to be done by three contractors currently doing work in Belize City including RJB Construction Company, Matus and Matus Engineering and Medina’s. The work is anticipated to last for 18 months with portions of the highway being improved through piling.

Surveys that have been done on the highway indicate that there are at least 4,800 entering the city on a daily basis and because of the current size of this main artery there are major traffic jams daily causing people to have hours of downtime waiting in traffic. The highway improvement says the Mayor will alleviate that problem.